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Kevin Willett says being upfront about your intentions is a better business plan

This week three of my connections have posted about how mad they get when people connect with them on social media and then try to sell them something right away. I understand the importance of getting to know, like and trust someone, but I am ok with you pitching your services to me, because I have the right to say no.

I have had a few people reach out to me and say they love what I am doing with my networking groups and they want to meet up to hear more about how they can get involved. Then when I meet them, they go into their pitch and often get upset that I wasted their time when I tell them that I am not interested. So, in fact, they weren’t interested in getting involved, they just wanted to sell.

If we are being honest with each other, most people myself included, connect with people because we hope that they will do business with us or be a referral partner, so why not just come out and say that.

Let’s make you a Financial Advisor for a moment. If you connect with me and say that you would like to meet me to talk about what you do, to see if you can help me, then I can consider the offer and say yes or no. For me I would say I have an amazing advisor that I like, but If you are open to it, I would still like to meet you to see if we can help each other. Then they can decide if that’s what they want to do.

I listen to a podcast and I love the guys approach. He reaches out to people and says I am involved in this company and I am not sure if you are open to hearing more about it, if you are that’s great if you are not that cool too. Please let me know. I think this approach is perfect.

I have had people get mad at me and disconnect from me because I asked them if they were open to attending business networking events. Now I can respect your decision if you feel that I offend you, but by disconnecting from me, I will never see any of your posts and never have a chance to help you. Wouldn’t it be easier just to say “hey thanks for thinking of me, but it’s not a match for me?”

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin Willett says being busy is one thing being neglectful is another

As I take on more responsibility, I must stop and ask myself what did I forget to do today? I can no longer keep everything in my head, so I have started using programs to keep track of the things I need to do and the people I need to reach out to.

For example, each week I reach out to 100 of my LinkedIn connections to ask them if they are interested in attending networking events. Often the answer is yes, and I send them a list of events for the month. However, if they did not attend any of the events from the list that month, I was not following up with them regarding future events. Out of sight out of mind. I was simply letting that opportunity slip, which defeats the purpose of reaching out to them in the first place.

One of the common issues I see is people forget to do things because they are busy. I am sorry my friends that is a weak excuse. People don’t care how busy you are. If you told someone you would follow up on something and you didn’t, that is bad. All that gets noticed is you did not keep your promise to them, which hurts your brand

I do my best at the end of each day to ask myself what promises did I make today, and did I keep them?

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin Willett says side trips are nice, but you must stay the course in order to succeed

One of my challenges is that I loved to be challenged. I am always willing to take on new opportunities. I have learned that I must be careful in this area because I have to stay focused on my primary business if I expect it to grow.

I see a lot of my friends taking on side businesses simply because they want to make extra money. Now I totally respect that we must pay the bills but, you have to be careful about the impact your side business is having on your primary business. Look at your social media posts. Are you posting more about your side business than your primary business? I have friends that do this, and my concern is at some point people may not reach out to you because they don’t feel you will give them the level of service that they expect or need. They may feel you are concentrating on your side business more. Give some thoughts to finding a balance to make sure your side job is not costing you business on your primary job.

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

My answer to this question may surprise you. I think you should network when you are busy. I find many people stop attending events when they get busy because they tell me they do not have time. When I ask them why they are so busy, they often tell me that its from meeting people at networking events or from referrals from attending events. If that is the case, why would you stop?

Now I understand you may have to be more selective about the events you attend, but you should continue to attend events to keep your pipeline active and avoid an eventual decrease in your business.

I see a lot of people only attend events when things slow down. The challenge with doing this is it takes time to build and rebuild those connections. It is super easy for people to forget about you when the don’t see you. That is why I believe you should network when you are busy.

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Yesterday afternoon I was super cranky because I did not hit my goals for the month. When this happens, you need to pause and analyze why it happened, so that you can adjust your plan to grow your business. In some cases, you may not have hit your goals because you simply did not put in the work, and in other cases sometimes things happen that are beyond your control. You simply must analyze the situation, learn from it and move on. Same rules apply when you have a great month, analyze the situation, learn from it and move on. Do not let one bad month derail your business. You need to stay focused and work towards your goals.

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin Willett says expanding your affiliations increases the reach of you business

I meet a lot of people who only belong to one networking group. When I ask them why they haven’t tried other groups, they usually say things like “I feel safe where I am”, or “I am comfortable there”. That is OK, but I think you are missing a chance to grow as a person and as an entrepreneur.

I see people join groups based on gender, religion and education, and I do think that makes sense and that it is a good starting point. However, you must ask yourself, is the group providing you with enough business to reach your goals, if not then it is time to leave your tribe.

I was speaking to a friend last week that is very involved in his school’s alumni group because he knows everyone, and he enjoys the pride of being a member. However, the more we spoke the more he admitted that he wasn’t getting the quality or quantity of referrals he needed.

There is nothing wrong with joining groups because your share a bond with the members but focusing your efforts on those groups may be holding back your growth.

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

I had coffee with a friend last week and she asked me my opinion about promoting her business on her personal Facebook page. She was concerned about upsetting her family and friends by posting too often about her business.

I have a few thoughts on this subject. First, please understand that your friends and family do not see every one of your posts unless they go on your wall and read them. Secondly, I think it is always about adding value and educating people. My friend sells skin care products. If she does a FB post saying ‘hey if you suffer from dry skin in the cold weather, you should consider using these types of products’, to me she is sharing knowledge that can help me and I do not see anything wrong with that.

I am not a fan of people sharing posts saying that their upline has challenged them to find 4 people to host parties this month. I am also not a fan of posting the same message on your wall every day that basically says buy my stuff or use my services. These posts are not helpful to the reader.

I just believe it is more effective to educate people about your goods or services before you try to sell to them.

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin Willett says communication is key when trying to build new business relationships

One of the common challenges I see with networking is that people tend to keep score. I hear people say, “I gave that guy three referrals and he has never given me one back”. If you are keeping score, please stop. Networking does not always work that way. I have been running Friends of Kevin for eleven years and there are many types of businesses that people have never asked me about. I also find that referrals can come in bunches. The person that you sent the referral to might not come across a referral for you right away, so please be patient.

I met with a friend recently and when we spoke about referrals, he said his goal is to find the best person for the job, whether the person ever sent him a referral or not. I simply love his approach.

We are all trying to build referral sources to grow our businesses. The key to this goal is to communicate and be honest. I see people try to build relationships by sending referrals. Then they become upset when they do not receive any in return. My question is always the same, did you ask them if they were open to exchanging referrals? Some people are happy with their existing relationships and are not open to adding new people. So please take the time to ask. As always communication is the key.

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin Willett says the more you challenge yourself to do the easier it becomes

I was speaking to a woman at my networking event and I told her that I think Facebook live would be amazing for her business. She smiled and said “yes, it is part of my marketing plan going forward”. I smiled and asked “how long has it been part of your plan? Why don’t you do your first Facebook live tomorrow?” That did not go over well at all. She said she is not comfortable doing it. I asked if I could tell her a secret? The secret is most people are not comfortable doing it, but we do it anyway. You cannot let that fear stop you from doing what you need to do to grow your business. It really does get easier the more you do it. I remember the first time I did it, I was scared! Now I don’t even think about it. I do it because it helps me grow my business. Each time I post a video I am having new people connect with me who are interested in what I do and in coming to events.

I am challenging people to do one Facebook live video this week. Stop over thinking it. If you say or do something that you don’t like, simply delete the video. It is really that easy.

Some of my friends would rather blog than record a video. If you are blogging, why not add video content to your blog to see if it increases the views of your posts?

I have friends tell me that they don’t watch Facebook live. That’s ok but it’s not about you it’s about your clients and future clients and what they like.

Be sure to tag me on your first Facebook live post so that I can check it out.

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon

Kevin Willett says the hugging culture is nice, but in business there is a time and place for it.

I tend to hug everyone I meet, and I have learned it is not a great idea. There are people who simply do not want to be hugged. It is a horrible feeling when you hug someone, and you feel their whole body get tight and you know they are saying ‘why is this guy hugging me’. Please be cautious of this because it may be costing you business.

I read an article recently that suggested that you let the lady take the lead when it comes to hugging. I am not sure I agree with that, because I have a lot of male friends that really don’t like being hugged, by a male or female.

If you are not sure if you should hug someone or not, then the answer is you shouldn’t. I ended up in a weird situation recently. I had a woman asked me why I did not hug her. She noticed I hugged two other women in her industry, so her conclusion was that I liked them better than her. I must admit that floored me. I did not realize the message I was sending her.

Hugging people in a business setting can be very confusing. It is much easier to simply shake hands to make sure that you are not sending the wrong message.

Kevin Willett is the Author of One Connection How you can grow your business (and change the world) one connection at a time. The business networking book is available on Amazon. Purchase One Connection on Amazon